New Drugs Improve Options for Melanoma Patients

A few years ago, that would have been a very short list. Until recently, people with advanced melanoma often died within a year of diagnosis, even with chemotherapy.

For the first time, however, patients such as Herry have options.

The Food and Drug Administration approved two new melanoma drugs in 2011 — the first new therapy for the disease in more than a decade — and approved two from GlaxoSmithKline on Wednesday. All improve survival by a few months.

The FDA also has put a Merck melanoma drug, lambrolizumab, on a fast track to approval by designating it a “breakthrough” therapy.